BOOM: One Country Just Banned the Hijab From Schools and Universities

Norway isn’t taking any chances. According to Education Minister Torbjorn Roe Isaksen, Muslim women are rarely seen wearing such veils in Norway and the ban wouldn’t apply to head scarves. Should the US do the same?

Norway’s right-wing government on Wednesday announced plans to ban the full-face Islamic veil from classrooms and university lecture halls.

Education Minister Torbjorn Roe Isaksen, quoted in the Vart Land newspaper, said the government was seeking ‘national regulations prohibiting the full-face veil in schools and universities’.

Muslim women are rarely seen wearing such veils in Norway, let alone in schools. But the issue has come up recently in political debates, with less than a year to go before parliamentary elections.

Several political parties including the opposition Labour Party had expressed support for such a ban.

Roe Isaksen stressed that the ban would not apply to Islamic headscarves that leave the face exposed such as the hijab. People should be allowed to express their faith in public in Norway, he said.

‘I want a young Christian girl who wears a cross to be able to show it,’ he told parliament.